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A new, cheap, less invasive way to test for oesophageal cancer becomes one of the first winners of the Department of Health’s innovations awards.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Firefighters are tackling a major blaze at a waste oil depot close to Kingsnorth power station in Kent.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The Pope has said Croats need not fear a loss of identity or religion if they join the EU Pope Benedict XVI is due to make his first visit to the Balkans with a two-day trip to largely-Catholic Croatia.
The Pope has been a supporter of Croatia’s bid to join the EU, which would add another devoutly Catholic nation to the bloc.
But many Croats say they fear a loss of their national identity and religion if Croatia joins the EU, which is a possibility for 2013.
There have been criticisms of the $6m (£3.6m; 4m euros) cost of the visit.
The Vatican has long had a special relationship with Croatia, says the BBC’s Vatican correspondent David Willey.
On Saturday, Pope Benedict is scheduled to meet Croatian leaders and then give a speech.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he expected the Pope to make “references to this bigger theme of the culture, tradition and identity of the Croatian people and their hopes of entering the EU”.
That hope may have flagged somewhat recently, say analysts, amid anger at the conviction in April by The Hague war crimes tribunal of Gen Ante Gotovina. He commanded Croatian forces during the war for independence from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Pope Benedict has previously said that Croatia need not worry about losing its identity by joining the EU and that the bloc needs to be reminded of its Christian history.
On Sunday, the Pope is scheduled to pray at the tomb of the controversial Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who led Croatia’s church during World War II.
The cardinal was accused of collaborating with Croatia’s Nazi-allied rulers during the war and was sentenced to 16 years in prison following the war’s end.
Pope Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II put Cardinal Stepinac on the road to sainthood by beatifying him during a 1998 visit, one of three he made to Croatia.
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Youngsters are exposed to porn and sexualised marketing on the internet, campaigners say Parents need much more help in protecting children from online porn, a review commissioned by the prime minister is to say.
The Bailey Review says parents should be able to buy computers, devices or internet services with adult content already blocked, rather than having to impose controls themselves.
The review, into the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, also calls for age-ratings on music videos.
It also suggests more advert controls.
It says this should keep advertising with sexual imagery away from schools and playgrounds.
The review was carried out by Reg Bailey, the head of the Mothers’ Union, and the findings are due to be published on Monday.
He describes the plethora of explicit adverts, videos and television programmes as a “wallpaper of sexual images that surround children”.
Mr Bailey says parents are worried about “the increasingly sexualised culture we live in”.
He says they need more support to protect their children and “help them deal with the pressure this brings”.
Mr Bailey said parents were concerned about heavily sexualised imagery in outdoor advertising as there was no way of avoiding it.
“It wasn’t as though these were something in a newspaper or in a magazine, they were in a public space. And parents felt that public space wasn’t as friendly as it might be towards families.
“So one of our key recommendations is to say that parents views should be heard very clearly when it comes to determining sexualised imagery and the usage of that in advertising messages in public space.”
Manufacturers and internet service providers could do a lot more to help parents block adult content from children including developing better ways of checking the age of users, the report says.
Mr Bailey is expected to say: “I have heard a lot of concerns from parents that their children can get easy access to pornography on the internet. Whilst most parents regularly check what their children are viewing online, and set up parental controls and filtering software, they remain concerned because they are not as internet savvy as their children.
“That’s why I am calling for a new approach where all customers have to make an active choice over whether they allow adult content or not. This is something internet service providers have told me is workable.”
Mr Bailey recommends music videos should carry age ratings and underage children should be banned from buying them.
The Advertising Standards Authority and broadcasters are being urged to pay more attention to parents’ views.
The government says it will implement all the recommendations and regulators and retailers have been told they have 18 months to clean up their act – otherwise legislation may be introduced.
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Carlton House was found to have a problem after a canter on Tuesday The Queen’s horse, Carlton House, will line up as the favourite for the Epsom Derby later after being declared fit following a late injury scare.
Doubts arose over the fitness of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt after he developed swelling in a leg.
He showed no ill-effects following an easy canter on Friday morning.
The Queen has had nine runners in the race but this will be her first since Church Parade finished fifth behind Shergar 30 years ago.
She came closest to winning in 1953 when Aureole was second.
John Warren, racing manager for the Queen, said: “He’s done a nice couple of canters and a bit of light work.
“Ryan (Moore) has ridden him and we’re all on for tomorrow.”
After winning the Dante Stakes at York in May, the horse was found to have a problem after a routine canter on Tuesday.
Warren had earlier compared the injury Carlton House suffered to the ankle strain suffered by British tennis star Andy Murray at the French Open.
“While Andy pulled up when he rolled his ankle, the horse has never actually been lame. It’s quite a good analogy,” said Warren.
“However, the horse cannot put his leg up for rest like a human being, so is much more vulnerable.”
He said both the Queen and the public had been kept well informed over the horse’s progress.
“We understand how big the betting side of it is and hopefully everyone is all the wiser about what is going on.
“Obviously the Queen has been through this and the trainer has been through injuries just before a race as well, so it’s not new territory, but it’s territory that one would prefer to do without, to be honest.
“I think now the emphasis has moved away from the issue and into the excitement of the event.
“Owning racehorses and breeding racehorses is really what this is all about and Epsom is the pinnacle of all of that.”
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Bananas are a major crop in Colombia, grown on plantations and small-scale farms A judge in the United States has dismissed an attempt by banana producer Chiquita to halt multi-million-dollar compensation cases being brought by at least 4,000 Colombians.
They allege they or their relatives were tortured or killed in banana-growing areas by paramilitaries paid by the company.
Chiquita, which is based in the US, has admitted paying paramilitaries.
But it says it will defend itself against the Colombians’ claims.
In 2007, Chiquita was fined $25m (£15m) in the US for paying a Colombian paramilitary group – the United Self-Defence Forces or AUC – that the American government had listed as a terrorist organisation.
The company paid paramilitaries $1.7m (£1m) between 1997 and 2004, the year it sold its banana holdings in Colombia.
It says it was forced to make the payments in order to protect its employees, not because it supported terrorism.
Paul Wolf, a lawyer for the claimants, hailed the decision by the Florida judge as a “remarkable victory”.
He said he was very optimistic that they would win their case at trial.
Lawsuits have been filed in a number of federal courts, under a statute that allows foreigners to sue if their claims involve violations of US treaties or a US law protecting victims of torture.
Following the latest court ruling, a spokesman for Chiquita, Ed Loyd, called the Colombians’ claims “outrageous”.
In a statement, he said that for the cases to succeed, the claimants would have to prove “that Chiquita shared the murderous aims of the AUC – not merely that Chiquita knew the AUC was a violent group”.
He said they would never be able to do this, “because it is not true”.
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Spain says it will seek damages from Germany over claims about its cucumbers British farmers are concerned that the E. coli outbreak in Europe will drive down prices for local producers.
The National Farmers Union said the market could be flooded with “cheap, unwanted cucumbers from within the EU”.
It blamed Russia’s import ban on EU vegetables, trade restrictions, cancelled orders and a drop in demand since warnings of E. coli were issued.
Some British supermarkets have already noticed a slight decrease in fruit and vegetable sales.
The E. coli outbreak has killed 18 people and left hundreds seriously ill – seven people in the UK have the infection, though all are thought to have contracted it in Germany.
Sarah Pettitt, the National Farmers’ Union horticulture and potatoes board chairman, said the NFU had spoken to all of Britain’s major retailers to seek assurances that they were backing British growers and paying an appropriate price for their product.
“So far, I’m extremely encouraged to hear that the major supermarkets are behaving sensibly when it comes to price, and are not using this unfortunate situation as an excuse to drop prices to British growers.
“Cucumbers are a high-cost crop to produce and rising input costs have meant reduced margins for growers in recent years,” she said.
Derek Hargreaves of Britain’s Cucumber Growers’ Association told the BBC on Thursday that he feared the outbreak would affect British producers if the source of the E. coli remained unknown.
“If this keeps rolling on and the Germans don’t find the source of the outbreak, then obviously people are going to say ‘well, there’s no point in listening to experts, they’ve all got it wrong,’ people will stop buying the salads.”
Supermarket chain Morrisons said it had noticed a “small drop in sales of salad items”. A spokeswoman said its stores did not stock any fresh salad supplies from Germany.
Tescos, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose said their sales of fruit and vegetables had so far been unaffected by the outbreak.
A spokesman from Sainsburys said the supermarket chain was unable to give out information on its sales figures.
The company was “working closely with the FSA [Food Standards Agency]and following their guidance,” he said.
Britain’s Health Protection Agency continues to advise that people travelling to Germany should not eat raw cucumber, lettuce or tomatoes and that they should seek medical advice if they have bloody diarrhoea.
There have been 1,064 cases in Germany of bloody diarrhoea and 470 cases of haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS), which affects the kidneys and can be fatal.
Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters estimate they are losing 200m euros ($290m; £177m) a week in sales after Germany’s initial claim that the outbreak had probably originated with Spanish cucumbers.
No evidence of this has been found and the source of the toxic bacteria is still unknown.
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Why are children not taught how computers work anymore?
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Jack Kevorkian, the man known as “Doctor Death” for helping the terminally ill end their lives, has died in the US aged 83, his lawyer says.
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Despite the slowdown, it was the eighth consecutive month of positive jobs growth in the US US employment growth slowed sharply in May, with only 54,000 net new jobs added during the month.
Markets had expected a rise of 150,000. It follows a downwardly revised but still rapid 232,000 increase in April.
Despite the slowdown, it was the eighth month in a row of positive employment growth, according to data from the US Labor Department.
The unemployment rate also rose unexpectedly to 9.1%, from 9% a month earlier.
The number of unemployed remained largely unchanged at 13.9 million, but the number of long-term unemployed – out of work for more than 26 weeks – rose by 361,000 to 6.2 million.
The private sector created 83,000 new jobs in the month, while local governments reduced their headcount for the the 22nd month in a row, by an unusually large 28,000.
“Job gains continued in professional and business services, health care, and mining,” said the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We are in for a rough day [on the stock market]”
Mark Lamkin Chief executive, Lamkin Wealth Management
Total employment in the US still remains nearly 5% below the pre-recession peak it registered nearly three-and-a-half years ago, in what has been the worst jobs recession since World War II.
The employment and unemployment figures are collected using different methods.
Stock markets fell sharply following the data release, with the FTSE 100 index falling 0.8%, before bouncing back slightly.
“It’s a bad report but not a horrible one because we are adding jobs nonetheless, just less than what we want,” said Mark Lamkin of Lamkin Wealth Management.
“People sell first and ask questions later, so after these numbers we are in for a rough day [on the stock market].”
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The figures mirror similarly disappointing US economic data released in the last week, including apparent slowdowns in the manufacturing sector and in consumer spending.
It all points to a marked slowdown in the US economy during the second quarter of the year, according to Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.
“[The jobs report] is weak across the board,” he said. “We can’t point to any one special factor and say that makes this an aberration.
However, he remains upbeat about the outlook for the second half of the year: “We have seen some easing in commodity prices, gasoline prices are starting to come down, and the bad effects on vehicle production of the Japanese problems will start to unwind.”
But the figures may resurrect fears of a possible slide back into recession, analysts warn.
And that prospect will fuel speculation that the US Federal Reserve may embark on a third round of “quantitative easing” – purchasing government bonds to pump more cash into the financial system – later this year.
“Arguing about the merits of whether QE3 would be a good idea, is irresponsible right now,” said Tod Schoenberger, managing director at Landcolt Trading in Delaware.
“It would be proactive for the [Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee] to discuss and develop a strategy for implementing QE3, because it’s painfully clear the United States is headed for a very messy second half of 2011.”
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A truce agreed on Friday collapsed after four days, with each side blaming the other There are reports that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been slightly injured in an attack on his compound in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as pitched battles continue between government forces and armed tribesmen.
However, officials said he was well and would address the nation shortly.
The PM and parliament speaker were also reported hurt and four guards killed.
Earlier troops shelled the home of the brother of the tribal leader whose supporters they are fighting.
Thousands meanwhile attended a funeral for 50 people killed in the violence.
The United States has sent an envoy to the Gulf to discuss ways of stopping the violence, which has brought Yemen to the brink of civil war.
More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising started in January, but least 135 of them have died in the past 10 days.
Western and regional powers have been urging Mr Saleh to sign a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal that would see him hand over to his deputy in return for an amnesty from prosecution.
He has agreed to sign on several occasions, but then backed out.
GCC Secretary-General Abdulattif al-Zayani called for an end to the fighting and said the council was ready to do all it could to help, Reuters news agency reported.
The BBC’s Lina Sinjab said the situation in Sanaa was tense as people were worried it could turn into civil war
There has been heavy fighting in the northern Sanaa district of Hassaba since last week between Mr Saleh’s forces and tribesman loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribal confederation.
Explosions were heard in the south of the capital for the first time. Witnesses said the army had shelled the home of Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leader of the opposition Islah party, in the Hadda district.
Later, a spokesman for the ruling General People’s Congress party said at least two shells had hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound.
Tariq al-Shami told the AFP news agency that Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, speaker of parliament Yahya al-Rai and several other officials were wounded in the attack, which he blamed on the tribesmen.
“The Ahmar [tribe] have crossed all the red lines,” he added.
Al-Arabiya TV reported that President Saleh had been lightly injured, four of his guards killed, and that Mr Rai was in a critical condition.
Suhail TV, a private television channel run by one of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar’s brothers, said President Saleh had been killed.
Earlier, troops set fire to the headquarters of Suhail TV, while state TV showed pictures of the burning offices of national airline Yemenia, blaming it on the tribesmen.
The defence ministry said special forces personnel led by Mr Saleh’s son, Ahmed, had been deployed for the first time.
It said they would help “liberate” more than a dozen ministries and other government buildings occupied by the tribesmen.
Tribal sources meanwhile said several thousand tribesmen were heading to the capital from surrounding areas to join the fighting.
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England’s care home regulator has a staff shortfall of nearly 300 – including some 133 inspectors, it says.
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Former US presidential candidate John Edwards is indicted over alleged campaign funding violations linked to the cover-up of an affair.
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The Bahrain Grand Prix, called off in February because of social unrest in the country, will be held on 30 October.
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Patrick Rae raped then murdered Mary McLaren following a night out in Dundee A man has been convicted of raping and murdering a mother-of-three in Dundee.
Patrick Rae, 41, had denied killing 34-year-old Mary McLaren following a night out at Fat Sams nightclub in the city in February 2010.
However, he was sentenced to life – with a minimum of 20 years – after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Rae was caught after CCTV images showed him dancing with Mrs McLaren and leaving the nightclub with her on the night she disappeared.
Her body was found two weeks later on 10 March, hidden in undergrowth near the Ladywell roundabout in Dundee.
In his closing speech to the jury following the four-week trial, advocate depute David Young QC said Mrs McLaren died a violent death.
Rae killed her by repeatedly punching her on the head and striking her head and body on the ground.
He also repeatedly struck her on the neck with a knife or similar instrument, before placing a piece of fabric round her throat and strangling her.
At the time of her death, Mrs McLaren – who had three children aged 18, 15, and 11 – had been looking forward to becoming a grandmother.
Following the verdict, Catriona Dalrymple, district procurator fiscal for Dundee, said “Patrick Rae today stands convicted of two of the worst crimes prosecutors can encounter.
“He committed a horrific attack against a defenceless woman, and in doing so took the life of a young wife and mother.
“This type of crime is fortunately rare within our community – but I would like to thank Tayside Police and the Scottish Police Services Authority for the work they have done which has enabled COPFS to bring Patrick Rae to justice and to ensure that our streets are safer.
“Our thoughts remain with the bereaved family of Mary McLaren at this time.”
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